The first death in NYC is an assistant manager at a Queens school. I stopped hearing about the H1N1 Novel Influenza A in the last few days and I sort of assumed it was gearing down. In most of the news sources I read that the flu is for the most part mild but is risky for people with health issues. Then this happened;
A beloved Queens assistant principal became the city’s first swine flu death Sunday night – and health officials warned to expect new severe cases. Mitchell Wiener, 55, died at 6:17 p.m. at Flushing Hospital Medical Center, six days after he got sick and four days after he was hospitalized with a temperature of 103. Daily News
I went to the CDC site and these are symptoms to look out for:
The symptoms of this new H1N1 flu virus in people are similar to the symptoms of seasonal flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. A significant number of people who have been infected with this new H1N1 virus also have reported diarrhea and vomiting. The high risk groups for novel H1N1 flu are not known at this time but it’s possible that they may be the same as for seasonal influenza. People at higher risk of serious complications from seasonal flu include people age 65 years and older, children younger than 5 years old, pregnant women, people of any age with chronic medical conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease), and people who are immunosuppressed (e.g., taking immunosuppressive medications, infected with HIV).
Possible treatment drugs are these:
There are two influenza antiviral medications that are recommended for use against H1N1 flu. The drugs that are used for treating H1N1 flu are called oseltamivir (trade name Tamiflu ®) and zanamivir (Relenza ®). As the H1N1 flu spreads, these antiviral drugs may become in short supply. Therefore, the drugs will be given first to those people who have been hospitalized or are at high risk of complications. The drugs work best if given within 2 days of becoming ill, but may be given later if illness is severe or for those at a high risk for complications.
They are seeing now that half the Influenza cases are H1N1 – this is the FluView for the week ending May 9, 2009…
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